WENDOVER ARM NEWS

Wendover Arm News, 201

2019 Issue 3

Winter 2019

WENDOVER ARM NEWS

Newsletter of the Wendover Arm Trust

Wendover Arm News, Winter 2019

Contents

Chairman’s Report 4 Balsam Bash 12

AGM 5 Work Party Schedules 13

Operations Report 6 Family Camp 14

Tidy Friday 10 The Last Cargo by Water from

Heygates Mill?

16

Membership/

100 Club

11

Your contacts on the Trust

Chairman Chris Sargeant Sales Director Bob Wheal

[email protected] [email protected]

Vice-Chairman Leanda

Richardson Webmaster Clive Johnson


Hon. Secretary John Rowe Minutes Secretary and

IWA Nominee Jenny Brice


Treasurer Clive Wilson Newsletter Editor Carol Williams


Operations Director Tony Bardwell Purchasing Director Peter Lockett


Publicity Director Nigel Williams Social Media Director Ben Grinsted


Membership

Secretary Katherine Deaney Fundraising Director

Leanda

Richardson



Chris Sargeant – Chairman

Leanda Richardson – Vice Chair & Fundraising

Clive Wilson – Treasurer

Tony Bardwell – Operations Director

John Rowe – Honorary Secretary

Katherine Deaney – Membership

Bob Wheal – Sales

Peter Lockett – Purchasing

Clive Johnson – Website

Carol Williams – Newsletter

Nigel William - Publicity

Ben Grinsted – IT and Social Media

Jenny Brice – IWA Nominee & Minutes Secretary

Council members 2019-20

Trust Vacancies - Urgent

This entails maintaining and updating the

database and records. Also receiving

subscriptions. This can be done from your

own home in just a few hours a week.

Full training and handover will be given.

Please contact Katherine Deaney for more

information:

[email protected]

Membership Secretary


Its been a busy time down at the canal -

restoration has now reached bridge 4

and plans for canal bed works to

complete Whitehouses are now agreed

with CRT ready for work to take place

next spring once ground conditions are

favourable,

Works to preserve the old swing bridge

abutments by bridge 4 and to build stop

plank grooves are also agreed right

down to the colour of the bricks and

will start immediately.

Huge thanks to Tony Bardwell and our

volunteers for all that is being achieved

and to Mikk Bradley and CRT for

getting plans completed.

We are mindful of our responsibilities

to protect and develop the

environment and natural habitats along

the arm.

To this end for example the offside

bank area including Whitehouses visitor

area and along to bridge 4 is being

developed as a nature area for visitors

to enjoy with over 120 new trees due

to be planted in November. Clearance

and landscaping is largely done with

levelling and application of top soil

completed.

A family camp took place at the end of

October in conjunction with WRG

when youngsters enthusiastically got

involved with making and installing

bird & insect boxes, planting 2000

snow drops and cutting up branches for

a bonfire – not an iPad in sight !

Grateful thanks

to Alex Melson

of WRG and

our own Jenny

Brice for

organizing.

Everyone had

a fabulous

time.

I now need to ask for your help – we

still urgently need a new Membership

Secretary to take over from Katherine

who has done a magnificent job for the

last ten years – frankly we cannot run

the trust without this position so do

please help us. The role can be done

from home and needs just basic

computer skills and requires just a few

hours per week.

Katherine will be pleased to give more

details so please do get in touch at

[email protected]

or ring 0757 181 857.

Thank you

Chris Sargeant, Chairman

Email:

[email protected]

Mobile: 07547 181 857

Chairman’s Column


WAT AGM Oct 30th 2019

Our AGM on Wednesday afternoon

October 30th attracted possibly a record

attendance with over 70 packed in to

the Anthony Hall in Aston Clinton.

The full report and accounts can be

viewed on our website at

www.wendoverarmttrust.co.uk

This was our 30th AGM, the Trust

having been founded in 1989

superseding the earlier Wendover Arm

Group.

We were pleased to welcome Sam

Anderson Brown, CRT’s Partnership

and external relations manager who

spoke about their recent reorganisation

and moves towards making waterways

a “well being charity”, providing added

value and public benefit to a much

wider community outside of boaters

and waterway users. Sam commended

our support and enthusiasm.

During the afternoon we were pleased

to honour Roger Leishman who retired

from the role of Restoration Director at

the end of the financial year aged 87

having devoted over 20 years to the

restoration. Following a unanimous

vote in Council, Roger was given the

title of Honorary Vice President in

recognition of his service.

Roger’s greatest achievement was the re

-building of Little Tring bridge without

which the canal would have been

forever severed and restoration

impossible.

In a second ceremony Dave Chapman,

Chairman IWA Chiltern and now an

IWA Trustee presented Roger with the

Christopher Power Prize recognizing his

outstanding contribution to the

restoration,

As part of the award the Trust also

received a cash donation for which we

are grateful to IWA.

Chris Sargeant, Chairman


Operations Report - October 2019

Health and Safety

We had two incidents this month that I witnessed. The first was a “near miss”

involving solid concrete blocks falling whilst we were unloading them from a

dumper bucket. This process has also been identified as a working at height

hazard and we need to change how we do this. It is possible to have “crash

mats” around the working area to cushion any persons falling but the amount of

mud in the work area would soon cover them plus they would be another thing

to walk round when carrying a block. Any further ideas on transporting and

unloading blocks would be welcomed.

We do load the blocks onto the transport using a hydraulic grab on an excavator.

Once they are in the transport the blocks generally move and are no longer in

neat piles that a grab can lift.

The second incident was a simple cement splash into an eye when using the

concrete poker. No lasting harm done. This should serve as a reminder to all

volunteers that we do have new safety glasses and appropriate face masks in the

Green Hut. We can’t make you wear them, but the Team Leaders may ask you

not to perform various tasks unless you are wearing the correct safety equipment.

Construction (Design and Management) 2015

I am pleased to announce that WAT have been issued with a Certificate of

Appointment that makes the Trust a “Principal Contractor”. The certificate covers

the whole of the restoration activity for a financial year. The Canal and River

Trust has appointed itself as the “Client” for the restoration activity.

Without going into a lot of detail, this brings both WAT and CRT in line with the

Legislation relating to the restoration work that we do.

We have had several of our volunteers attend CDM training courses provided by

CRT, and we are grateful to them for spending their time to train on our behalf.

The more people we have trained (even to a rudimentary level) the better WAT

will be at understanding its responsibilities and required actions.

This is about keeping our members and volunteers safe on the worksite and being

seen to do so.


Pumping out

It has been raining! There was water in front

of the mooring bay wall. First job on Friday

was to pump it out. This took most of the day

but whilst that was going on three more

Bentomat bank mats were cut and the bank

vegetation from the length between bridge 4

and Little Tring was further cleared.

During the rest of the week the last part of the

mooring wall blocking was completed (with

reinforced concrete strip beam) , the last part

of the offside bank was hollow blocked,

concreted and solid blocked and then the join

between the bank and mooring wall was

finished off with a concrete infill.

Apparently, there was a third

“incident” when Peter Bird’s

phone was found underwater.

This picture survived from his

wet phone but a new

(waterproofed?) phone has

been purchased.

The rain did do some good as well!

This is the view from the mooring wall

looking towards Whitehouses.

Last part of Mooring wall,

Bentomat being tailored to fit

(Photo Tony Borrill)

The last part of the concrete join infill.

(not much more to do Peter!)


After all that excitement we carried on with uncovering the bed Bentomat that

was already in the bed from some months ago and starting a new roll with a

concrete policeman. This area was backfilled with spoil, the mat gradually

unrolled more and so on. At this point we were able to backfill the offside bank

with spoil.

Shortly after that was

completed, another 40m

Bentomat roll was brought

to the work site and

connected to the existing

bed mat. This mat join

coincided with the start of

the mooring wall blockwork so was an ideal point to make our first reinforced

concrete policeman.

As can be seen in the picture, we

were able to cut two planks to fit

between the bank blocks and

support them with the formwork

we generally use on the bank

hollow block concreting. This arrangement allowed

us to use the vibrating poker to de-aerate the

concrete and get a 45-degree slope on each side.

The concrete needs to be de-aerated to give the

reinforcing a longer life and the concrete a higher

strength.

The backfilling frame being

moved to the next section.

Early morning sun not

helping! (Photo Tony Borrill)

The bank formwork was used

to hold the side planks at 45

degrees. Note the three

reinforcing rods.

The finished reinforced concrete policeman.


There will be several other reinforced concrete policemen along the front of the

mooring wall blockwork. This is to brace the blockwork against the towpath

blocks and ensure the mooring blockwork does not move away from the

mooring wall.

So, here is the view from bridge 4! The casual observer (Brian) has come along

to admire the handiwork before he takes over with the Tidy Friday operation

next day.

The reinforced concrete policeman was completed on Thursday and the

afternoon was taken up with cleaning the tools and tidying the site.

A few “happy” hours were expended on getting the mud from the excavators

and dumpers. This was difficult to do, and we may have to start using a pressure

washer to shift the worst of it next time.

Whitehouses

We now have a Canals & River Trust (CRT) approved set of drawings for the

Whitehouses restoration/build. The special bricks required have been identified

and are due to be ordered soon. We also have method statements and risk

assessments due to be completed soon. We will be appointing a Temporary

Works Supervisor and Temporary Works Co-ordinator. I am now the Designated

Individual who will oversee the Temporary Works team. We now have two

volunteers who have been on the CRT provided training courses who will guide

us through the requirements of the Construction & Design Management (CDM)

Legislation.


Lastly

You will probably have noticed that there are more pictures in these reports than

we used to have. The feedback I get is positive for more pictures and less words!

Just before the work party I had a cruise along the Manchester ship canal.

According to the history books the Canal was completed in just over six years!

Now that is inspiration!

If canal restoration sounds like hard work, then joining our

Tidy Friday group might be for you. This entails light work

keeping our canal, bridges and towpath looking spick and

span and cared for.

This is organised by John Reynolds, for further details or to volunteer please

phone John on 07787 355 515.

Offside bank work linking the lining

to the mooring wall.

Final levelling by hand

using rakes prior to

seeding at the

Whitehouses site.

Final levelling of the track on the offside

area near Whitehouses.

Tony Bardwell, Operations Director

13th December 2019

10th January 2020

14th February 2020

13th March 2020

Tidy Friday; 8:30am - 4pm


The Autumn draw was made at the October council meeting. There

were 202 subscribers in this draw.

The winners were....

£242.40 John Henderson

£101.00 James Brown

£40.40 Graham Watts

This is a members only draw.

A £15 subscription gives you 4

chances to win a year. Approx. 50%

of the money subscribed is

redistributed as prize, the remaining

money will be used to restore the

Wendover Arm.

If you would like to take part, please

visit the website,

www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk

Club 100 Lottery

The next draw will be at the January council meeting.

This will be the 90th draw since it started over 25 years ago.

Membership Update

The summer months have born fruit and we have recruited 6 new membership

households, including 2 life memberships.


Pull-Stamp-Stomp /

Himalayan Balsam Bash

The official report of this event was

included in the previous newsletter, but

the reality was more about shoulder

high robust nettles waving in the wind.

Luckily, I had the nod from the

organiser that long trousers would be

best and Jo from the Inland Waterway

Association (IWA) also came with shears

and other gardening implements to

attack these beasts.

When we arrived, we were kitted out

with fishermen’s waders (if you wanted

to attack from the water) or gardening

gloves. The male contingent were not

too impressed

with these as they

were bright pink

like the Balsam

flower. Fourteen

volunteers in all,

including Archie

Morris age 16

months in his High

Viz. Obviously being trained for his

future in the Waterway Recovery

Group.

The theory why we were at the Bear

Brook the start of a small tributary to

the Thame was, because when the

Balsam pods are ripe and ready they

explode and can be carried

downstream, so extermination must

always be on the upstream patch first.

Everyone enthusiastically went into

action sending nettles to the floor

when in our path. The actual removal

of the Balsam can be quite satisfying

as they are easily pulled up by their

roots, stems bent and laid in a heap.

Another member of the team carefully

pulled off the flowers which were going

to the Gin Distillery. The heap

is then jumped on, Archie

with the help of his Dad was

brilliant at this and loved the

resulting squelchy sound of

the fleshy stems as they were

stomped on.

We made good progress

along the riverbanks with

great results. The devastation of the

deadly plant was total, although I am

not sure what the local’s thought was

happening when all these noisy adults

suddenly appeared out of the

undergrowth at lunch time. We

adjourned to a quiet grassy corner

where we

all had a

picnic

lunch and

a well-

earned

rest.


A satisfying way to spend a morning

which, although manual work was

involved, was not too back breaking.

No doubt we will get a call next year

from the River Thame Conservation

Trust to continue with the

extermination of the Balsam further

downstream.

I attended the IWA Festival of Water at

Waltham Abbey, on arrival I set up my

tent and then joined the fellow

attendees at the bar. At this point there

was many comments saying

"you are everywhere" what did

they mean? In my unobservant state, I

had driven past many large banners

showing me on the Balsam clearance

work party.

Jenny Brice

Minutes Secretary & IWA Nominee

Work Party Dates

Restoration working parties are held throughout the year, and

typically take place from Friday to Thursday around the first

weekend of each month. Please see the dates below:

For further information please contact Tony

Bardwell via email,

[email protected] or

01296 634 973. Any help will be greatly

appreciated.

Friday 6th December - Thursday 12th December 2019

Friday 3rd January - Thursday 9th January 2020

Friday 7th February - Thursday 13th February 2020

Friday 6th March - Thursday 12th March 2020


Waterways Recovery Group Family Camp - October 2019

Coloured Cane Toppers adorn the

Wendover Pocket Park

Thirteen children and guardians arrived

on Friday evening at Green Park with

the purpose of beautifying the new

parkland alongside Whitehouses.

First task was to produce some model

clay toppers for the bamboo canes, this

was enthusiastically done, with the

resulting multi-coloured models of –

animals, boats, flowers and many other

cartoon characters coming to life.

Next morning the weather was not

looking good, but nevertheless the

planting of the 2000 snowdrop bulbs

started. Meanwhile the bonfire was lit

to consume the branches left from the

recent adult work party.

At 1pm we made a hasty retreat by

minibus back to Green Park. Included in

our facilities was a large bubble room

which we used to assemble the bird

boxes/bug houses.

As a granny, this is not an easy task, so I

left the instruction on sawing and

nailing to Alex and any other parent

willing to help.

Sunday proved sunny so the rest of the

snowdrop bulbs were planted, and an

enormous bonfire built which enabled

marsh mellows to be toasted. All six

bird/bug boxes were nailed to available

trees to encourage more wildlife in

future.


In the afternoon the

scrubland along the

towpath was cut or

sawed back to give more

room for passing. Many

walkers paused to thank

us and enquire which

group we were from. All

this gives good publicity

to the Trust.

The Family Camp is led and sponsored by the team from the Inland Waterways

Association Head Office which is based in Chesham.

Jenny Brice, WAT Events Team


My wife Sara and I became members of

Dunstable & District Boat Club (DDBC)

when we first started boating nearly

forty years ago. We first navigated to

the then end of the Wendover Arm at

the pumping station in 1982; my log

notes that it took an hour from the

Main Line

because of

dense weed

and that we

only just

made it! Later

that same

year we

attended an

early Boat

Rally

opposite

Gamnel

Wharf and

the Mill

organised by

the GUCS to publicise the Arm and its

possible restoration.

At DDBC we got to know Roger and

Sheila Lewis supported him in founding

WAT in 1989. We got involved in scrub

bashing work parties and took part in

all the Wendover Arm Rallies from the

first in 1990 until 2000 and treasure the

commemorative plaques from those

great occasions. Five years after

retirement we moved our boat Sara

No5 from DDBC to Brass Knocker Basin

on the Kennet & Avon Canal and direct

involvement with WAT was no longer

practical but we were delighted in 2004

to recover, restore and put back in its

original place the original cast iron

GJCC milepost at the Arm’s junction

with the Main Line at Bulbourne.

A very special highlight of our long

association with WAT was in 1996, the

Golden Jubilee Year of IWA when its

National Rally was to be held at

Windmill End

on the Dudley

No2 Canal.

Roger Lewis

came up with

the idea that

we could mark

the occasion

and gain some

very useful

publicity for

WAT by getting

the Mayor of

Tring to send as

a gift to the

Mayors of

Dudley and Sandwell, in whose districts

the Rally was being held, two sacks of

flour from Heygates Mill for charitable

distribution.

The Mill had, of course, ceased using

the canal to carry its cargoes soon after

WWII. But now, why not revive for

one last time the very reason some 150

years earlier a mill had been built at

Gamnel Wharf in the first place –

transport by water? The bare hull of

Sara No5, our dream trad Josher style

narrow boat, had been built for us in

1991 by that out-standing craftsman in

steel, Simon Wain. Powered by a Russel

Newbery DM2 in its own en-gine room

I was five years into what turned out to

The Last Cargo by Water from Heygates Mill?


be an eleven year DIY fitout. I had

finished the traditional Back Cabin so it

was habitable and externally it looked

the part.

Loading at Gamnel Bridge Roger Davis

Roger Lewis The Presentation by Roger

Lewis at Windmill End Sara Davis &

Mayor of Tring Roger asked Sara and I

if we would like to carry that “last

cargo of flour by water” from Heygates

Mill to the

IWA Golden

Jubilee Rally

for formal

presentation

by him on

behalf of the

Mayor Tring

to the local

Mayors. Well

who would

turn down

such a

privilege?

On Tuesday, August 13th at 2.30pm

the Manager of Heygates and two

members of staff duly loaded two 1cwt

sacks of flour (one wholemeal, one

white, suitably protected from the

weather) onto the front cabin roof of

Sara No5. This was done in the

presence of the then Mayor of Tring,

Councillor Olive Conway, and

Chairman of WAT, Roger Lewis who

had a sign “A Token Cargo of Flour

from Heygates Mill (Tring, Herts) to

The Black Country National Waterways

Festival and The Mayors of Dudley &

Sandwell”. The board also noted The

Wendover Arm Trust and IWA Golden

Jubilee.

The Mayor handed over a letter to be

given to her recipient Mayors. We set

off with Cllr Conway and Roger on

board and gave them a cruise along the

summit to Cowroast and back. Having

bid them farewell we set off for the

Festival.

En route at Grove Church Lock No 29,

GU—cargo on roof It was a fairly

leisured nine day cruise via Kingswood

Junction & the

South

Stratford

Canal to

Tewksbury on

the R. Avon,

the R. Severn

to Stourport,

Staffs and

Worcs Canal

to Stourbridge

Junction.

Finally the

Dudley No1

to the

National Rally Site at Wind-mill End,

exactly 200 miles & 201 locks with our

cargo. A warm welcome (including a

hot shower !) beckoned as we carried

on through Gosty Tunnel for a peaceful

night in Hawne Basin.

The following morning arrangements

were confirmed for the formal

presentation of the cargo of flour by

Roger Lewis to the two local Mayors.

We have been retired down West over

twenty years now but we continue to

closely follow WAT’s great progress.


Regards from your Editor

Carol Williams (left)

Assisted by Janine Jones (right).

Deadline for the

next newsletter is

29th February 2020

We are delighted that

both our children,

Elizabeth (Dr Liz) and

Stephen together with

Ian Williamson, our son-

in-law, have been

restoration “hands on”

through WRG and

Kescrg. So it was a

special pleasure to come

to the Open Day in July

and see for ourselves the

amazing progress made

since we last visited nearly 20 years ago.

Now, I put a question mark at the heading of this article. I believe we carried the

last ever cargo of flour by water from Heygates Mill - unless, of course, you know

different! Further, and we don’t want to boast, but I am pretty sure we also

carried the last flour away by water from the Hills & Partridge Mill down the

Aylesbury Arm. The Aylesbury mill closed through insolvency in 1992 and is now,

I believe, derelict. So, can we also claim a “last cargo of flour” for that one too?

I’m sure WAT readers will put us right if we shouldn’t!

By Roger Davis

And a Happy New

Year!

From Wendover Arm Trust


WENDOVER ARM TRUST

President Dr David Fletcher CBE

Vice Presidents Barry Martin & Roger Leishman

Patron David Suchet CBE

Wendover Arm Trust, A Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered Charity No.801190. Its AIMS are:

To promote the restoration and maintenance of the Wendover Arm of the Grand

Union Canal, (including all waterways, buildings, and related structures), to good and

navigable order and to promote the fullest use of the waterway by water-borne traffic

(subject to the regulations of The Canal and River Trust) and for local amenity, recrea-

tional and water related activities for the benefit of the public.

To restore, preserve, maintain and to educate the public in the history, use and associ-

ated wildlife, of canals and inland waterways generally and the Wendover Arm in

particular.

The views expressed in this journal are those of the contributors and cannot be taken as those of the Council of the Wendover Arm Trust. Whilst all reasonably practicable steps are taken to confirm the accuracy of any statements herein, no liability can attach to the Editor, or the Council of the Wendover Arm Trust, or any contributors for any errors and neither the Editor nor the Council of the Wendover Arm Trust accept any responsibility for any consequences howev-er caused.

General telephone number: 07547 181 857 Website: www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk

Advertising Enquiries:

Contact the Publicity Director, (Email addresses on p3)

20 Wendover Arm News, 201

WENDOVER ARM NEWS

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